"One dark movie," but gods, so spectacular! Just the way Kurosawa shot the sky effects over the castle is just hauntingly, achingly beautiful.

An interesting point is that the odd behavior of Lord Ichimonji in these scenes is not just a dramatic device; it's actually a one of the most accurate portrayals I've ever seen in cinema of the "freeze" syndrome that can occur in cases of extreme arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, also known as an "adrenaline dump." Being woken from a sound sleep to overwhelming fear stimuli is one well-known way this happens.

For all their writings about indifference to death, samurai posessed the same nervous system as the rest of us, which Kurosawa proves masterfully here.

Confusion (looking stupidly at his empty saya), inability to engage with others, loss of fine motor control, inability to move, etc. are all classic components of this. Fascinatingly human portrayal . . . which makes it very, very creepy.